Good first Fender amp?

FreddieVanHalen

So, I've recently started playing a lot more jazz and blues stuff and am hankering after lovely clean sounds. I can get these to a great extent from some of my current amps.

However, for probably no rational reason, I am hankering after a Fender amp due to their reputation for having great cleans.

I usually prefer heads to combos so I can mix and match my speaker cabs, but I appreciate many good Fenders are combos.

Where's a good place for me to start? Would prefer second hand as I'm royally bored of getting butt f*cked on buying new amps and then shifting them on for nothing second hand :-)

Amp needs to jazz/super clean only, I've got other amps to cover my other bases. Probably my clean ones as well TBH but I has the GAS for a Fender LOL

jonnyburgo

Fender Blues deluxe, should be able to pick one up around £350. They are very nice (and bloody loud too)

Although Ive heard good things about the Frontman 2x12 combo, which is solid state and can be found for about £100

p90fool

The Frontman sounds very nice at home, but is quite brittle at gig volumes. I'd go used HRD or Blues Deluxe at the budget end.

welshboyo

There's a Custom Shop Pro Tube Pro Reverb on arsEbay at the moment, predecessor to the SuperSonic type series and are supposed to be really good, its a weighty beast though..and its a combo....

Richardj

A definite +1 for the Blues Deluxe.  A DRRi has to of course be on the list to try, but less cheap.

FreddieVanHalen

Thanks for the ideas - sounds like I need to look up the Blues Deluxe.

I had been thinking about a DRRi head but maybe a bit harder to find and people seem to be modding the 65 reissues which doesn't bode well...

@welshboyo that's a good call, didn't know about that range of amps. It's just a shame the seller isn't a bit closer...

jpfamps

FreddieVanHalen said:

Thanks for the ideas - sounds like I need to look up the Blues Deluxe.

I had been thinking about a DRRi head but maybe a bit harder to find and people seem to be modding the 65 reissues which doesn't bode well...

@welshboyo that's a good call, didn't know about that range of amps. It's just a shame the seller isn't a bit closer...

If you can find a DRRi head it's only got an 8 ohm output.

I wouldn't worry about the modding frenzy around the DRRi. Many other amps have suffered from this (eg the Blues Jnr).

jacksparrow

the only mod needed on theDRRI is the bright cap removed from channel two, takes pedals much better then imho

bluechargeboy

My mate bought a '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, and with his Johnny Marr Jaguar it sounds bloody lovely! Obviously with no master volume you are talking clean, clean, clean.

I've got a Hot Rod Deluxe III, it be good.

noisepolluter

jacksparrow said:

the only mod needed on theDRRI is the bright cap removed from channel two, takes pedals much better then imho

And even then it's only an issue until the volume gets up above a third or so - which at 22 watts isn't too ridiculous. 

noisepolluter

noisepolluter said:

jacksparrow said:

the only mod needed on theDRRI is the bright cap removed from channel two, takes pedals much better then imho

And even then it's only an issue until the volume gets up above a third or so - which at 22 watts isn't too ridiculous. Some pedal/pickup combinations sound fine through that channel even at low volumes, it tends to be bridge humbucker sounds that suffer a bit, for some reason. In which case, just pop it in the other channel.

FreddieVanHalen

Ah cool, sounds like good news - I'd been thinking away from the 65 reissues because of the supposed need for modding but that doesn't sound like it's a problem at all.

Doesn't sound like a major mod even if it was needed...

@jpfamps thanks for the heads up - my cabs are all 8 ohm but I hadn't spotted that it was a restriction so good to know.

@bluechargeboy yeah, I think top of my list would be the 68 Vibrolux but as those have only just come out I don't think I'll be finding one second hand for a little while yet....

noisepolluter

FreddieVanHalen said:

Ah cool, sounds like good news - I'd been thinking away from the 65 reissues because of the supposed need for modding but that doesn't sound like it's a problem at all.

Doesn't sound like a major mod even if it was needed...

I was also pleased to find that the amp has a very low noise floor, and there is a nice gradual taper on the volume control, which means it's also usable at home. 

ICBM

If it's clean only, a Deluxe Reverb is a better choice than a Blues or Hotrod Deluxe in my opinion. The BD/HRD clean is good, but not *as* good, and it's a waste if you don't want the overdrive channel - which is immensely underrated in my opinion.

The BD/HRD are notorious for their steep volume taper too, which makes them harder - although again contrary to popular myth, not impossible - to use quietly.

thisisguitar

I tried one of these in guitarguitar on Sunday, and played through it for well over an hour (just clean at a moderate shop volume).. the reverb is absolutely mega. Play a CS Strat, CS Les Paul and a Ibanez George Benson, all sounded fab, the Benson especially.

http://www.fender.com/series/vintage-reissue/65-princeton-reverb-120v/

Not cheap, but worth looking out for.

p90fool

ICBM;353321" said:

If it's clean only, a Deluxe Reverb is a better choice than a Blues or Hotrod Deluxe in my opinion.

Mine too, I was just being cautious as they're twice the price second hand.

I think the OP might even prefer the 68 Custom, which is slightly cheaper.

meltedbuzzbox

If you are looking around £350 a fender twin/the twin/Twin amp is always worth a look as well. It just depends how often you will need to move said amp ;-)

Personally I prefer the hot rod over the blues deluxe for cleans and the dirt channel is leagues better than the blues deluxe

Keep an eye on the classifieds

ICBM

meltedbuzzbox said:

Personally I prefer the hot rod over the blues deluxe for cleans and the dirt channel is leagues better than the blues deluxe

I think it depends on the type of cleans and dirt you want - to me, the Blues is more Tweed-voiced so the clean sound is 'hairier', and the overdrive is more middy. It also sounds best cranked up a bit. The Hotrod has a more Blackface clean, and a more bassy overdrive but can get farty if you push it too hard at higher volume. (Although I discovered that it can do a good Neil Young sound at low volume because of that!)

I think my ideal one would be the Hotrod clean, the Blues clean as Drive and the Hotrod Drive as the More Drive, but that can't be done because the signal path is actually different in the two amps.

ThePrettyDamned

meltedbuzzbox said:

If you are looking around £350 a fender twin/the twin/Twin amp is always worth a look as well. It just depends how often you will need to move said amp ;-)

Personally I prefer the hot rod over the blues deluxe for cleans and the dirt channel is leagues better than the blues deluxe

Keep an eye on the classifieds

I tried a Twin out yesterday, and it was the best sounding clean amp I've ever heard.  

Also liked the drive channel for garage rock, tried a Suhr riot in front (alright pedal, good for high gain but had a pretty poor gain range from very dirty to a bit dirtier) and a Boss Power Stack (bloody amazing pedal, good gain range, good eq, suited the Twin well).  If I didn't have the son of hyde I'd get a power stack. 

FreddieVanHalen

These posts are all really useful.

Based on this I think I'm tending towards the DRRI. I'll have to save up a bit more but I don't mind getting secondhand.

It's just get raped on the new prices I'm getting bored of :-)

I'll have to check out the Princeton as well - I'd assumed the smaller speaker and lower wattage might not be so great for the tight clean bass end of things in jazz but I could be totally wrong....

p90fool

I have a 68 Custom Princeton, it has loads of low end and is great for jazz, but only at real acoustic jazz band volumes.

It will get mushy if you want that clean jazz noodling in a rock band context type of thing, but then so will the Deluxe to be honest, neither of them have a lot of headroom.
That said, I use my Princeton as a clean pedal platform in a rock band, but I have to Mic it up.